Photoview 360 Basic Settings

When getting started with PhotoView 360, setting your render options can seem like a bewildering task. Here are a few tips and explanations to get you started.

Render settings:

1)     Image quality – make sure this is at its maximum value for a final render. This can be found in; Options > Document Properties > Image quality > Shaded & draft quality HLR/HLV resolution. Slide the bar to the right and select the option for “Optimise edge length”. 

2)     Aspect ratio – the first number will dictate the image quality, so when you come to do a final render, crank this up a notch. (For example, 1920x1080 16:9). This can be found in; Render tools tab on your command manager > Render options > Output image settings. 

3)     Render quality – you can select the quality of your preview and final render in the render options menu. For a final render set this to maximum. This can be found in; Render tools tab on your command manager > Render options > Render quality.

• Preview render quality - Sets the quality for the preview. Higher quality images require more time to render.
• Final render quality - Sets the quality for the final render. Higher quality images require more time to render. 

4)     Bloom - is the amount of light that will reflect off a surface.  Bear in mind that the lower the bloom value, the more light will appear to reflect off the surface. This is only visible in the final render. This can be found in; Render tools tab on your command manager > Render options > Bloom.

• Bloom set point – Identifies the level of brightness or emissiveness to which bloom effect is applied. Decreasing the percentage applies the effect to more items. Increasing it applies the effect to fewer items.
• Bloom extent - Sets the distance the bloom radiates from the source. 

5)     Direct caustics - Increase both values when you are rendering with glass, it will allow for more realistic light reflection and refraction through glass objects. Again this is only visible in the final render. This can be found in; Render tools tab on your command manager > Render options > Direct caustics.

• Caustic Amount - Controls the amount of visible caustics by defining the maximum number of photons fired. Increasing the amount creates sharper and clearer caustics but increases rendering time. 
• Caustic Quality - Controls the quality of the caustics by controlling the number of photons sampled at each pixel. Increasing the value creates a smoother caustic effect at the expense of detail. Decreasing the value results in a sharper caustic effect with increasing graininess. 

By Jon Weston-Stanley

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